Zootopia Black Rain
by InkleCherrySeed
Summary: A series of shocking murders sends a wave of terror through Zootopia, as an unchecked reptile slithers through the grasp of our favorite cops. An unknown threat is slowly being constructed beneath the cities streets, growing day by day, undetected. And if any should try to stop it's construction, their entire world will be torn from their grasp, and replaced with another.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Chaos.

Chaos is the only constant in this multiverse.

From the smallest bacteria fighting over sustenance to duplicate, to galactic conquests determining the fate of a whole universe. Chaos is the only constant in existence. Without chaos, there is no peace.

Peace is a merely absence of chaos. Just as one can not experience joy without grief, nothing can exist without the violent interaction of the multiverse.

And so, with this law of never-ending brutality, the multiverse may never find peace. It will always seek to obliterate and destroy. And that is why the most benign, purest beings, will never prevail.

Unless…


	2. Chapter 1: Wake-Up Call

**Chapter One:**

 **Wake-Up Call**

* * *

"Come on Nick! We're gonna be late!" Judy announced loudly through the splintered boards of Nick's apartment door. The bunny's ears had turned light red from irritation.

Judy and Nick lived in entirely different apartments; quite a few blocks away, but it never stopped Judy from keeping Nick on time. She never failed to wake up a few minutes- no, about an hour before Nick did. Although it bugged the fox to death, it did save him quite a few glares from Chief Bogo.

The door abruptly opened. A fox in a flannel shirt -which had been buttoned lopsidedly- stood in the doorway. His back was hunched, his shoulders slouched. He looked as if he was still asleep. His blood-shot eyes locked with Judy's; which caused her to stop her yelling immediately.

"Go. Back. To. Bed." He said slowly enough so a sloth would've asked him to speed up. He moved to close the door, but Judy quickly jumped in its path and placed her hands on the splintered wood.

"You're not giving up, are you?" he said faster than the latter, without unlocking his gaze with Judy's.

"Nope!" Judy said in a positive way; as if Nick's reply was exactly what she wanted to hear. "Now let's get you out of that shirt and into your uniform!"

Nick's arm shot out in front of here before she could lay foot on the wood floor of his apartment.

"I can get dressed _myself,_ Judy." He said in a stern voice, with a slight hint of amusement. A smirk escaped his stern expression.

Judy took a step back and let Nick close the door. _Silly fox,_ she thought.

Judy tapped her foot, with mixed feelings of excitement and impatience. After a few seconds, she heard the sound of drawers being opened. Then the squeak of a closet hinge. The sound of ruffling clothing being put on. _Thud. Slam. Crack._ Judy could only guess it was the sound of a clumsy fox.

About two or three minutes later, the door opened again, revealing a well-dressed fox in a blue police uniform. Judy couldn't help but think how sharp he looked in it. Judy bounced up and down with excitement.

"Come on! Let's get a head start to the ZPD!" She said in a voice overflowing with enthusiasm.

"Hold on, Judy," Nick said with slight amusement. "We still have TWO HOURS until rollcall when we get our assignments. Clawhauser isn't even at the desk for another hour."

"So we'll take the detour!" Judy said in a voice so high you could barely hear it. She turned and skipped down the hall faster than Nick thought possible.

 _How does she get all that energy?_ Nick thought smugly while shaking his head. He strutted down the hall with pleasant thoughts buzzing in his mind, wondering how he got so lucky as to know Judy Hopps.

* * *

 **Hey guys! (if any body is watching) I wanted to ask you guys if you liked my story so far. If you did like it, please follow, or whatever else that stuff is. I'm kinda new to this stuff. By the way, this story probably seemed pretty short, and I'm intending on making the next one MUCH longer to compensate. Also, while I was exploring the site, I stumbled on some very good stories. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND "To Stand Together or Not At All", written by TheAssassin2. It's about Zootopia, and is some good stuff!**


	3. Chapter 2: Grocery Shopping

**Chapter Two:**

 **Grocery Shopping**

Nick came out of the apartment to see a police-mobile sitting tall among the rest of the cars. Behind its wheel was a rabbit with a bright expression spread across her face. She waved to Nick, mouthing words he couldn't hear.

Clambering up the small steps, he opened the passenger door and entered the vehicle. Without a word, Judy started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

A short and awkward silence fell upon them, the only sound being the hum of the engine. Nick stared out the window at the passing scenery, envious of those still asleep.

"So Carrots, what's your plan to do with all this spare time?" said Nick in his sharp-witted tone.

"Well, I was thinking we could, um… well we could always-"

"You don't have a plan do you." Nick cut her off.

"We could always wait for Clawhauser at the front desk." Said Judy sarcastically, knowing it would push Nick's buttons.

Nick thought for a moment, staring out the front windshield. A thought slowly materialized into his conscious. He knew exactly how to get Judy back for waking him up at such an impractical time.

"So Carrots, instead of sitting at the front desk for years, I was thinking-" Judy recognized his tone of voice, and new she wasn't going to like what Nick was going to say "-maybe we could get some ' _groceries'_."

Judy's stomach tightened as she realized what he meant. He wanted to go to the store and buy _bugs_. Since predators couldn't eat other animals –like back in the time of savage mindless beasts- they had to eat fish, fowl, and to Judy's disgust: bugs.

"Oh no. No. I'm not going back in there _again!"_ Said Judy in a voice barely holding back her disgust.

"Oh yes you are."

"Nope. Not after what happened last time."

"Come on Judy, it wasn't _that_ bad."

"Nope. I'm not going."

"Then I guess I'll just have to walk. And who's fault will it be that their partner was left miles away, hours before rollcall even started." Said Nick with his eyes opened wide and his brows raised.

Judy's face hardened as she pondered her options. _'I can't just let him get out and walk to the bug store. Not that Chief Bogo would be mad at me, but it wouldn't put him in a good mood either.'_

"Fine, but I'm not going in with you."

Nick smiled, knowing he'd accomplished his goal.

"Well you should take the turn to the left three blocks up."

The police mobile came to a halt in front of a small two story building. Its windows were lined with black metal, and neon signs cast their glow through the glass. The largest words read:

 **Arnold's Predatory**

 **Grub Shop**

 **Open 24/7**

Nick hopped out the car, not before sarcastically saying thank you. Though Judy was not pleased with the change of schedule, it amused her to see the fox negotiate every verbal obstacle she threw his way.

She saw Nick enter the store, and she couldn't help but remember what had happened the first and last time she accompanied him in.

"Hey Carrots, I was wondering since we were patrolling the area, maybe I could get some food." Nick said in a sweet tone. They walked down the downtown streets casually, but still keeping an eye out for trouble.

"I guess. I need some more cabbage." Judy said.

"No, I mean over at the meat shop."

"Meat shop?! There's a shop here that sells meat?" said Judy with surprise she could barely keep contained in her fluffy body. A look she had never seen on Nick's face overcame him. Judy realized that he was completely dumbstruck.

"Really? You didn't know?" said Nick.

"I had no idea. Do they really sell-" Judy swallowed loudly "- _dead animals?"_

"What! No Carrots! That would be disgusting!" exclaimed Nick in a horrified tone.

"Then what do they sell?"

"Birds, fish, and bugs. Not actual dead mammals! You can't seriously say you never knew what predators ate?"

"Never. My parents always told me predators ate little pills instead of actual _meat_."

"Really?!"

An eerie silence fell upon them as they continued walking the downtown streets. Both rabbit and fox were in a feeling of awe, mostly Nick.

"Well, we can't split up, it'd be against Chief Bogo's orders." Said Nick.

"Then I guess I'll just go with you." Said Judy with minor reluctance.

"You sure you want to go in there Carrots? After what you just told me, it's not a friendly place for prey, let alone a rabbit. But if you really want to, then I won't stop you."

Nick ceased walking in a dim alleyway, were a few neon lights shone at the end. He started walking down the alleyway towards its door. Judy held her breath, as regret slept into her conscious.

The door rang upon opening, allowing the cashier to acknowledge Judy and Nick entering. The light smell of raw meat drifted out the doorway as Judy entered. Nick appeared to take no notice of the smell, but Judy couldn't help but gag on the fumes.

The store was no larger than your average gas station. It had tall white shelves that stretched the length if the building, covered with what Judy could only guess was the source of the stench she poisoned her lungs with by breathing.

Nick strut down one isle, looking at the various packages of food. He was too engulfed over what the best deal was to notice Judy choking on the air itself.

On the other side of the store, a timber wolf purchasing salmon caught a glimpse of what he could only guess was _the_ Judy Hopps.

The wolf ducked back behind the shelf, in fear of being seen.

 _'Wow! The real Judy Hopps! If it wasn't for her, I'd be behind bars, along with every other predator in Zootopia! Wow! She's really here! Wait a minute, she's HERE, inside a_ _ **meat**_ _shop._

Poking out his phone, he decided to sneak a picture of the mysterious hero.

Judy's nose burned, she felt she couldn't keep inhaling the smell of the meat any longer. Her stomach tightened, she could feel her breakfast of radish boil up her throat.

 _Click._

Judy never got over that incident. The picture the timber wolf got of Judy barfing was printed in the tabloid newspapers for months, with a heading of "Officer Hopps: Predator or Prey?" The incident blew over when the news station showed an interview of Judy explaining the whole situation. It was by far the most embarrassing moment in her career.

A fox carrying brown paper bags came out of the store. He was about to open the side door, when he shook his head no and decided to put the bags in the back, were criminals would sit.

Even tough Nick enjoyed teasing her to come here, he knew she was still a little soft on the whole incident. After putting the bags in the back of the car, he climbed into the passenger seat and buckled himself in.

"I guess it's time to go wait for Clawhauser at the front desk, isn't it carrots?"

Judy smiled, showing her bright teeth to Nick before pulling out of the alley and driving on.


	4. Chapter 3: Roll-Call

**Chapter Three:**

 **Rollcall**

The breaks to the car squeaked as it pulled into the parking lot. The Town Hall stood tall and majestic, its blue tinted windows reflected the sun in a way that made it seem to glow in the morning's relative darkness. Its orange sandstone pillars surrounded the entrance in a symmetrical artistic pattern.

Judy and Nick opened the doors to the police car and climbed out. The vehicle was designed to house mammals, from giraffes and elephants to mice and moles. The driver and passenger seats had to be adjusted for the police who drove it. Since Nick and Judy were both small-class mammals, the driver's compartment was located in the very front and top, which made it more difficult to get in and out of.

The pair of officers walked up to the door and entered the large round lobby, where various levels of the building could be seen in the open area. The skylight roof was roughly four stories up, and let sunlight flow through it. The front desk were Clawhauser usually sat was empty, all except one box of donuts, half full.

"Well he was here, that's for sure." Said Nick as he nibbled an untouched pastry.

"Stop that, you know he doesn't like it when you eat his food." Judy said pulling the box of donuts away from Nick.

"Oh, come on Carrots. He couldn't possibly eat the rest of it by himself."

Judy gave him a stern look, before cracking up knowing that her nicety was just accusing Clawhauser of being overweight.

After letting Judy finish her amusing outburst of giggles, Nick turned and began to observe the police department's lobby, looking for any sign of Clawhauser. _'He's rarely one not to finish breakfast, so there must have been some reason he abandoned his jelly filled, chocolate covered… caramel drizzled… sweet… sugary… donuts!'_ Nicks mouth began to water as he realized he had eaten nothing that morning, and his previous taste of the donut made him crave it ever more.

"Hey Carrots, is that Wolford?" Nick said quickly.

"Where?!"

Nicks arm shot up as he grabbed the pastry he had tasted earlier, and then hid it behind his back.

"I don't see him, is he back near the secretary's office-"Judy paused, "Oh there he is!"

Nick gagged on his mouthful of donut, trying as hard as he could to stay quiet. He was not expecting anyone to be there at the time. Well, at least not in the lobby.

The wolf strode toward them while waving friendlily. His gray fur seemed silky and smooth. He was in his police uniform, which had a few mustards stains near the collar. It was not ironed, and was bleached a light shade of blue from exposure to the sun. His uniform's shabby appearance was not his fault, he'd been in the force a long time (longer than Judy and Nick, but not the longest). He was a favorite of Bogo's, and could handle dangerous assignments.

Nick hysterically (but quietly) tried to find a place to hide his donut. In a flash of thought, Nick remembered the box on top of Clawhauser's desk. If he hid it in there, it would seem like _Benjamin_ took a bite out of it.

"Hey Judy! Why are you here so early?" asked Wolford.

"Oh, I was just making sure Nick stayed on time. If he slept as long as he wanted, well you could guess Bogo's reaction…"

Wolford had seen Bogo's temperament for officers who were late. It only happened to Nick once. It was a very tense day for the whole department.

"So, why are you here?" Judy inquired.

"Well, my neighbors decided to have quite the party. It lasted until two o'clock before I decided I might as well head to the ZPD. I've been here for a little while. By the way, have you seen Clawhauser? His stuff just appeared here without him."

"We were just wondering the same thing!"

Nick gently opened the box and tried as sneakily as he could put the treat back in. For a brief second, his eyes met with Wolford's, and he saw what Nick was doing. The wolf cracked a smile, finding his situation hilarious.

Before Judy could inquire what he found amusing (as she didn't see Nick) a door burst open across the tiled entryway. In the place of the wooden door was a cheetah. A very, _very_ large cheetah. His body seemed to hang off of a thin frame, like water filled clothing clinging onto its drying line. He shook like gelatin with every step he took in his awkward, hunched position. He had black-circle-print fur that was incredibly lustrous due to his… _overly well fed state_. His jaw was gaping with a small bead of drool on his chin. His eyes were toward the ceiling, as if he were rolling them.

After once again being surprised by his appearance, they noticed his follower walking beside him. A small white ermine strolled next to the cat. She was thinner than that of Weaslton. Compared to Benjamin, she was a stick perilously close to a rolling bolder threatening to crush her. Her eyes were large and watery, filled with emotions that could be read like a picture book. At the moment, they seemed overflowing with happiness. She also had braces on that had brackets larger than her teeth, and wires thicker than Para cord. Her face was pulled back into an alarming smile due to a most hated piece of dentistry: head gear.

Judy couldn't help but feel a powerful twang of empathy. Bunnies rarely had straight teeth, so they almost always had to use (Judy shuddered)… _headgear_. The predators in Bunny-Burrow always picked on any rabbit who had headgear, and Gideon Grey had a never ending grudge against Judy, so he picked on her, hard. Gideon still feels guilty about it, and Nick still hates him for it.

During those dark times for Judy, she made one of her best friends. Helena was another rabbit who went to her school. They shared a number of things in common, including headgear, and Gideon. They both stood up against him, and had the students in their class sign a paper to help get Gideon justly punished. They were dark times for Gideon, too. Never had he been so close to being expelled, and more severely: disowned. His parents had never been more disappointed in him for making true the accusations toward foxes.

Gideon bullied them even harder when high-school began. Since Judy and Helena had been separated into other classes, Grey saw they were weaker apart. Gideon was never kind to Judy again until the "Night-Howler-Crisis" was in full swing. The truth was that he was scared of Judy then, knowing the title she held all across Zootopia. He saw fit then to apologize then, as to prevent her from seeking some revenge (which she probably would have).

The ermine walking next to Benjamin was talking rapidly, and had a lisp to mark the ages. All Judy, Nick, and Wolford could hear was the constant stream of mispronounced words that were still too far off to tell what they heard. As the mammals neared, Judy was able to pick out the words slurred together in her speech with her delicate hearing:

"-and-did-you-shee-dat-she-had-a-cashe-file-on-her-deshk-and-it-had-a-bunsh-of-crimes-in-it-dat-she-wash-shtill-sholving-and-dat-one-had-a-wabbit! I-mean-ishn't-dat-crashy-dat-( _breath_ )-dey-gave-her-a-cashe-wif-a-wabbit! I-mean-she-could-have-handled-a-million-wabbitsh!"

Clawhaser heeded no attention to the ermine, and kept walking. His eyes seemed to be looking nowhere but into the distance, but then they focused on Judy.

"Judy!" Clawhauser exclaimed, "This lovely new recruit was just talking about you!" His eye twitched. "In fact, she just showed herself to your office! Why don't you take her on down to _her_ office, where she can start working, _immediately._ "

Judy faltered for a moment, not wanting to get caught up in a mess, and not wanting to be mean.

"Sure thing, Benjamin."

The ermine sprinted over to her with speed that betrayed her slender form, and hugged her with the strength of a bear. Judy looked up to see Clawhauser mouthing thank you with on expression of sympathy for her, and happiness for him.

Unraveling from Judy's waist, the ermine started to speek faster than she thought possible:

"Ohmygosh!It'shreallyyouJudyHoppsthemoshtfameoshpolisheoffisherofthewholeworld!Ican'tbelieveIreallyshtandinghereinfrontofyou!"

Judy got an immediate headache. She was still struggling with the first word when she put it out of her mind and decided to try to talk to her.

"Um, so where was your office, again?" Judy said, but not directly asking the weasel.

She began to speak again, faster than before. She grasped Judy's forearm with a hand like a bear trap, pulling her to the stairs that led to the boiler room.

Judy felt helpless and overwhelmed as she was dragged by one of her greatest (or worst) fans. She looked back toward the front desk, only to see a happy cheetah and two Canines talking in a sweet slow tempo.

Before Judy was dragged into the bowels of the town hall, she heard a faint cry:

"Who ate my donuts?!"

Nick stretched in his seat. His muscles were still sore from waking up earlier than he expected. He was in the room where Chief Bogo briefed the officers and gave them assignments. There were only a few other officers in the room, including Wolford.

He felt a little lonely, because one officer was missing: Judy. They were very close friends, but not exactly girlfriend and boyfriend. When Nick thought of Judy walking down a church isle in a white dress, he immediately shook the thought out of his head. Just the idea of being married to her was so… alien. Not that he didn't want to be married to her, it was that he didn't see it as a possible future. And that wasn't just him saying that, there was a reason. And that reason just walked through the door.

Terrance Spring. He was a Jack Rabbit from Bunny Burrow. He was also one of Judy's friends that she went to high-school with. And prom. And he still liked Judy.

Just those few reasons made him more likely to love Judy, and for her to love him. And because of that, Nick thought he was a total jack a** of a rabbit. Never Nick had a greater grudge against any living creature. In both of their eyes, they were mortal enemies.

"Morning, _red_."

Nicks fist clenched into an iron hard ball, while the skin on the back of his neck prickled. _Red_ was a _Nick_ -name given to him by the Jr. Ranger Scouts. As if putting a muzzle on him wasn't bad enough, they tormented him with mail, texts, emails, anything. And in those hateful messages, they gave him the _Nick_ -name _red_.

Nick sprang to his feet, eyes blazing with an internal fire.

"Take that back this instant!"

The room fell silent as the few officers stopped their conversations and focused their attention on the fox and rabbit. Terrance turned around, a flare in his smug temperament.

"Sure thing. I take it back. _Muzzle_."

"Shut up. Now."

"And what, are you gonna come eat me!"

Nick whipped out his tranquilizer gun, aiming straight for the rabbits furry brown face.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold up! Surely we can talk about this like civilized folks!"

"You shut your mouth, and _never_ talk again, and I may not put a dart it that dumb little face of yours!"

"Okay! Okay! Never again!"

"Good. You'd better keep it that way." Nick emptied the dart out of the gun, and slowly holstered it. He turned to walk back to his seat.

A bolt of pain shot through his leg, and his lower half went limp. He turned from his position on the floor to see a large red dart in his leg, and a brown bunny with his gun in firing position. His vision started to blur, and the last thing he remembered was hearing Chief Bogo's voice.

A small light poked through a veil of black. A sensation of warmth started to slide into notice. Opening his eyes, Nick looked up and around. He was lying in a white bed, with a monitor next to him. He recognized the room as the hospital wing of the town hall.

 _'How did I get here? Did I get hurt during an assignment, or was I sick? Am I dead?_ ' Nick started to sift through his memories, trying to find out why he was in a med-bay bed. In slow but clear images, he started at the beginning of the day, up to when he was in the roll-call room. He still couldn't recall exactly what happened.

Nick began to sit up, when he saw a grey rabbit sitting in a chair across from him. _'Is that an angel?'_

The rabbit looked up from her magazine. Her face lit up into a shining smile. One that Nick was quite familiar with.

"Nick!"

"Carrots?"

Judy ran over and hugged Nick with her slim arms. Nick returned the gesture and hugged her back. After a few short seconds, Judy let go. Nick reluctantly did likewise.

"What's going on, Fluff?"

Judy's nose twitched as she pondered Nick's question.

"You don't remember?"

"No. What happened?"

"You were shot by Terrance with a dart."

Nick's face went pale as he remembered what happened. The pain in his leg, and the pain in his heart.

"Terrance is facing charges of assault in court tomorrow."

"Wait, how long was I asleep?"

"Only a little while. You're pretty lucky. Bogo came in right as you went unconscious."

"Did I miss roll-call? I don't want to go through that talk again with chief."

Judy's face went a little pale.

"Well, about that…" Judy gulped, "It's kind of important today. Bogo already dismissed the other officers, but he wants you to come back up when you're ready."

"I'd best not keep him waiting then."

Nick hopped off the bed. As he touched the ground, he felt a stinging in his leg. He looked down to see it was bandaged. Ignoring the pain, he walked out the room with Judy.

"So how was your little fan club meet?" Nick said with some cheery tones to brighten the mood.

Judy laughed. "Terrible. I didn't even get her name."

Judy and Nick walked back into the briefing room. It was empty except for one water buffalo, empty chairs, and to Nick's surprise: a chalk outline of him on the floor, surrounded by police tape.

"Welcome back officers. I didn't expect to see you here after the… incident, this morning. Are you feeling any better?"

"Bright as rain, Chief. I heard you had something important to say."

"Ah, yes. The morning's briefing you missed." Bogo's face –which was usually stern- faded into a more concerned and worried look.

"Grab a seat. You don't want to stand for this one."

As Nick sat down, he saw Judy brace herself, as if she was in a plane about to crash.

"Okay." Said Bogo, "Yesterday, we solved three cases. They were all missing mammals. One zebra, one wolf, and one capybara. All were found by the Tundra-Town Forensics department."

Nick looked at Judy's face. Instead of the happy smile she had when a case was solved, her face was contorted in a sad figuration of a scowl.

"The mammals, however, were not alive."

Nick covered his gaping mouth, completely shocked of what he just said.

"They were crammed into ice boxes, in a basement in downtown Tundra Town. They had…" Bogo tried to take a deep breath, but a knot in his throat prevented it. "They had been… eaten."

Nick swallowed the bile that had entered his mouth, sickened by the taste and what Chief had said. Bogo's arm reached into a file filled with pictures. His hoof froze before he grasped one, he was afraid to look at the image of the mutilated animals.

"The forensics team did a DNA test on the saliva found on the animals. They now know that their killer was…"

"A reptile."


	5. Chapter 4: The Five Eras

**Chapter Four:**

 **The Five**

 **Eras**

In the beginning, every creature was savage. We had only primitive thoughts. That of food, water, refuge, and reproduction ruled over every other impulse…

But then the great change happened. We set aside our primitive urges and became something more. We became intelligent. Knowledgeable. And the Four Eras began.

In the first era, the mammals rose from the ash. We were strong. Smart. We were the greatest.

But that statement was short-lived.

Soon, other species began to rise up. The reptiles were the second era. They were a fierce and brutal enemy. Cold blooded. With hearts of stone. They were less intelligent, but physically dominant.

The only downside to a gift such as intelligence is this:

War.

The first wars broke out between mammals and reptiles in the second era, it was a time of brutal conflict. They were short and violent battles, but in the end, mammals always won. We made weapons like spears, bows, and clubs. With them we could defeat the reptiles. But they soon caught on to our tricks.

The third era began when the amphibians awoke into intelligence. They were strange creatures. They had mysterious customs. Neither mammal nor reptile could understand them. We assumed then, that it was a curse of the water they were born from.

The reptiles began to use amphibians as slaves, for they were the most advanced in technology at the time. With the amphibians, they pummeled us into the ground. They burnt our villages and slaughtered our people. Mammal kind went nearly extinct. The amphibians joined with the reptiles, no longer as slaves, but allies. Thus the third era ended, with the mammals cowering in hiding.

The fourth era was the age of reclamation. The mammals were sick of hiding. We began to plot ways of defeating the reptiles. Our attempts were futile, however. The reptiles and amphibians had grown too strong.

Then something happened that hadn't ever happened before. A new species was born from the mammals. A creature who was both feline, canine, predator and prey. Its name was lost to history, but its legacy lived forever.

This species was the one that could liberate the mammals forever. And as I have said, so they did.

They were led by Conan, the greatest of their race. He had been prophesized in the first era to free the mammals from an un-foreseen tyrant, who soon became known as the reptiles. He lead the siege on the reptilian capitol of Zootopia, were the Fire King himself resided.

He succeeded his task after five days of battle and siege. He faced the King in a legendary duel, and conquered the whole of what was soon to be Mammalia.

To this day at the city center of Zootopia, a monument bearing Conan's likeness stands proud for every mammal to see, and every reptile to forever cower under.

And now the fifth era is still underway, with mammal kind alike prospering and flourishing, and reptiles being punished for their cruel deeds.


	6. Chapter 5: The Fan Club

**Chapter Five:**

 **The Fan Club**

* * *

Judy ushered Nick out of the roll-call room. They were both shocked of Bogo's recent announcement. A trio of mammals had been found dead, eaten by a reptile, and hidden in ice-boxes. A scene the likes of which was only stated in history museums, well, condemned history museums.

Nick thought to himself, _'Three mammals dead. Killed at the hands- no, the jaws of a reptile.'_

"I can't believe it either." Said Judy, practically reading his thoughts.

"But, how? How?! Nothing has happened like this in the past… century!"

Judy opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't bring herself to utter a syllable. She had a glazed look in her eyes which Nick had only seen on a few occasions.

A light in her expression indicated that she finally found the words she was looking for, but before she could speak, the chief exited the room and came up to where they were walking down the hall.

"Officers Judy; Nick," said Bogo, "This may be a disturbing case, but I need you on two on it and working by noon. You're already late thanks to the… scene this morning. Get your case files from Clawhauser at the front desk. Afterwards, I need you to go see our new officer in the office next to the boiler downstairs. She can get you a head start on the case."

Judy almost let out an audible groan, not wanting to see the weasel a second time.

"Yes Sir."

"That reminds me, Nick, about that leg. Mrs. Ona wanted to inform you on the side effects of the narcotic in that tranquilizer dart."

"Yes Sir."

"Oh, and please stop calling me that. It gets old." And with that, he returned to his office.

"Well, I guess we should go down to the "nurse's office"." (A popular title for the med bay among the town hall police.) ", and after that we'll head on down to your fan club."

Judy thought, _'What a messed up day.'_ , and with that last idea, began to walk down the glass railed stairs to the ground floor. Nick fell a little behind, and Judy inferred it was due to his leg. _'Who'd have thought Terrance Springs would be the second bunny cop on the force, only to be fired for shooting Nick in the leg.'_

After heading down a narrow hall dimly lit by long plasma bulbs in the ceiling, they took a turn into a bleach white room on the left. Inside it was similarly lit. It had three beds siting in the near right corner, for officers who got injured. On the far left was rows of plexi-glass rooms. Each had a bed and a monitor inside. Their main use was for rehabilitating criminals after being shot with a tranquilizer dart, or any other wounds acquired while being arrested.

A small eyed armadillo with thick steel rimmed glasses approached Judy and Nick from a small brown desk in the corner. She wore a blue sweater and kakis, and had a small police badge pinned on her breast pocket, along with a red cross sewn on her shoulder.

"Ah, Nick Wild. You left before I could speak with you." She said in a hoarse, dry voice.

"I'm sorry. I had to go back to the meeting I missed while I was in here."

"Oh, the meeting. I see." She stared into the wall just next to Nick with her eyes looking at nothing peculiar, but then snapped back into focus. "Well, if you don't mind sitting on one of the beds over there."

After Nick was seated, she removed a small rubber hammer from a tray of instruments. She lightly tapped it on Nick's knee three times. At the first, Nick's leg didn't budge. On the second and third, however, they had a reflex, but it was delayed and sluggish.

"Just as I thought," she said, "The serum in that dart will leave you tired and with slow movement. I'm going to have to give you a pair of crutches."

 _'Crutches? Crutches! How am I supposed to solve a murder with crutches?!'_

"Ma'am, I don't think that it's so severe that I need to be handicapped."

"It will take a while for the sluggishness to get into full swing. The only reason your standing on that leg is because have some medication I gave to you earlier still in you, so please sit back down."

Nick reluctantly followed her instructions, as the armadillo started to fumble with a latch on a closet. Upon opening it, Nick saw a diverse array of medical supplies organized into multiple shelves. It was filled with shot needles, IV fluids, thermometers, stethoscopes, just to name a few of the items. She rummaged through until she found two adjustable crutches.

She tweaked them to the proper height and handed them to Nick, who grimaced upon receiving them. Judy felt poorly, seeing that her partner would be stuck with them for a long while.

"I would suggest staying off the streets solving cases, and rather find a task here to do, like paperwork or case filing. Come back to me in two weeks for a checkup."

Nick sighed and slipped the crutches under his shoulders. He started to hobble out of the room. Mrs. Ona put on a kind expression, seeing that he was doing as he was told (a rare thing for Nick). Judy accompanied him out of the office, showing a warm smile.

Once they were out of view of Mrs. Ona, Nick slipped the crutches out from under his arms and began to walk as normal, carrying them in his right paw.

"When are you ever going to stop doing stuff like this?" said Judy in a twist of humor, not really making it a question.

Nick shot her a devilish smile, and then kept walking. They came out of the hallway and turned opposite the main entrance, now heading toward the stairs to the lower level of the ZPD. It was a dark brown metal door, with a push bar running across it so that it could be opened.

"So for a name, I was thinking the 'Judy Enthusiast Squad', or maybe 'The Bunny Cop Admiration League'."

"Or maybe the 'Throw a Tomato at Nick Pack'."

"Very funny officer Fluff, but I prefer blueberries." Said Nick as he pushed open the door. "Ladies first."

Judy gave him a sarcastic humph, and then started to walk down the concrete steps. They were cold and moist, by far the worst part of the building. As the stairs proceeded down, they went into pitch black darkness. The only thing coming up from the stairwell was the dull roar of the furnaces.

Nick pulled out a blue flashlight from a pocket on his belt. Its original purpose was a prank for Judy, and quite a good one. He had labeled it "Bunny Repellant", and left it in his office for her to walk by and see it. Judy disliked it so much that she used her own repellant on Nick, only to find out that he had swapped it out for and old perfume sprayer that he found in a dumpster. But anyway, it still provided the necessary bright light for the basement.

The duo proceeded for about thirty feet before turning left to a small wood door. On its plaque it read:

 **Room 102:**

 **Files**

"Well, into the Judy Mouse Club House." Said Nick.

"As it is your initiation, I suggest you go in first."

"No, after you."

" _No_ , after _you_."

"I insist, as you are the leader."

"And because _I'm_ the leader I insist that you go in first."

"And since this is a democracy I vote that-"

Nick's last sentence was cut off when Judy opened the door and shoved him in with all her fluffy might. Nick, being unprepared, stumbled a few feet in and then fell flat on his back. Upon looking up he saw a grey rabbit with the _I hustled you good_ expression on her face. He wished that he had a camera with him so that he could see it whenever he wanted.

Judy's smug appearance disappeared when a sudden high pitched squeal broke the relative quiet. It was the squeal of a small weasel whose favorite celebrity just came into her work office.

"Uh-oh." Said Judy under her breath.

The small figure rushed toward her and enveloped her in a back-breaking hug. Judy had her breath squeezed out of her as the weasel tightened.

 _'Lucky rodent.'_ Thought Nick with jealousy.

Unraveling herself, the white ermine bounced up and down repeatedly, and then let loose a current of words like a dam breaking and releasing all the water behind it.

"JudyJudyJudyJudyJudy!It'shyouagain!Yeshyeshyeshyeshyeshyeshyesh!Imishedyoushomuch!"

"Oh, yeah, I missed you too!" said Judy sarcastically, but failing to hide it. Looking up from the exited mammal, she saw a small desk on the other side of the narrow room (not unlike Bellwether's). Upon the desk she saw that it was covered with all of Judy's files, including her birth certificate, her will, her former case files, and many more personal papers with information on her.

 _'Oh boy. Not another one of_ _**these**_ _fans again.'_

"You know what, I'm gonna put the line right there." Said Nick while stepping in front of Judy. "We came down here to get help on a case, not talk, so if you can't help us, we're gonna go right back up those stairs."

"Oh! You mean dat cashe!" she said while adopting a slower form of speech. "Here, I'll get you all de reshourshesh you'll need for dish!"

She waddled over to her desk, and started to clear of Judy's files.

"Shorry, I wash shcrap booking."

 _'WHAT!?'_ Judy screamed in the confines of her mind.

After the weasel had finished reorganizing the papers, she wiped the dust off a large computer monitor that was previously hidden. She pressed the large power button, and the screen lit up to a bright light. Nick had retrieved the flashlight from the floor and turned it off, for there was now sufficient light.

"Dish cashe ish a real pickle! After all, we're looking for a reptile." She said in her peculiar lisp. "Let me get on the camerash, so I can start to obsherve de shurroundingsh of Tundra Town."

Nick interrupted the weasel, "You know, could you just send us a link to the security sight, because we are in a really big hurry at the moment."

"Oh shure! What'sh your e-mail?"

"For me it's nwilde ."

"And Judy'sh?"

"You know, I just happened to forget hers, and so did she, but we gotta go, so see ya later!" Nick said quickly as he slammed the door to the room. He and Judy quickly walked out of the hallway and began to make their way back to the stairs. Once they were safely on the surface, they both let out the breath they were holding.

"Thanks Nick. If it wasn't for that I'd be stuck there all day with _her_. Wait a minute, she still has all my paper work! Now she's going to sit there and scrap book every detail of my life!"

"Well she can't exactly do that now." Nick quietly murmured while holding out a handful of folders.

"Nick!" said Judy while giving him a light hug.

He answered her with his peculiar little smile.

"We better get a move on, like Bogo said: "I want you on this case by noon"." Nick said in a mockery of the chief's voice.

After a pause, Judy said "Is it legal for her to e-mail you a link to a city's security hotline?"

"Maybe."

"Nick."

"Well at least she doesn't have _your_ e-mail."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I am."

With that, they walked out of the building and toward their shared car. However nice the scene was, one of them was wishing they were holding the other's hand.

* * *

They arrived at Nick's apartment shortly after. They building was made of cracked bricks covered in plaster. It was three stories tall, and had most of its shingles blown off. Every four windows horizontally across had a black-metal stair case going up. It wasn't a pretty staircase, as it was also the fire escape. Nick pulled down one of the ladders and gestured for Judy to climb up.

Nick's apartment was on the third floor. One of the downsides of being up there was the leaks that were far too common. Once Judy and Nick reached the final set of platforms on the building, there was a dim concrete hallway extending into it. It was open to the weather, and its original dark blue color had been bleached to an almost white color. Nick's room was at the very end on the right. It had a ply-wood door on it, whose paint had been badly chipped.

Nick undid the many locks on its exterior. Two combination locks, three key slots, and to Judy's surprise: the door knob had to be picked with a paper clip.

He pushed open the door, and with a long and loud squeak, it opened to reveal a very small living space. It had one ceiling fan with only three arms, the fourth being no-where to be seen. A small couch was pushed into the far right corner. In front of it was a short coffee table, atop of it was a large black TV, one of the large cubic ones. In the far left corner was a walled of area, most likely Nick's bedroom. One of the only two windows was inside of it. The other window was over in a kitchen area. It was broken and opened, having only a large fan in its place. The kitchen that its light shone upon wasn't much better. It had a dishwasher on the left end, with minimal counter space on top of it. Next was a sink with a cabinet below it. The sink was filled with dishes that were cracked and covered in old food. After the sink was a small oven with a grill on top of it. It still had pots on the burners. On either side of the windows were two cabinets, one filled with dishes and silverware, the other with boxes of cereal and other non-refrigerated foods. The mini-fridge was next to the couch, as there was no better place to put it. The walls of the apartment were covered in white wall paper. In some areas it was peeling off, in others there was newspapers covering it.

"Welcome to my house, Carrots. It's not much." Said Nick while putting away the crutches he had been carrying.

"Maybe it needs some pictures on the walls." Said Judy.

"Yeah, old wrinkly photos in a crooked frame with broken glass."

"Come on, I'm serious. A little decoration and it'll be fine."

"Last time I put up the Christmas tree it had earwigs on it. They weren't half bad ornaments, either."

"Ewww! Nick! That's disgusting!"

"It was even worse on Easter."

"What do you mean- oh. Oh! That's so gross!"

"Let me go get my computer, you can just wait on the couch. By the way, don't lift up the cushions."

Nick walked back into his bedroom, and left Judy staring at the green sofa. Its fabric was torn and messy, and had springs sticking out.

 _'I think I'll stand instead.'_

Nick came back out in a moment carrying a grey laptop. It was in relatively good shape, and only had a slight crack in one of the many keys. He sat down on the wicked piece of furniture and began to browse through its many apps.

"Okay, emails, emails, emails. A-ha! Found it. Let me see, thirty five of them are titled 'please send to Judy', and there is one that is addressed as 'link to security net'. Before we open that one, you want to do fan-mail?"

"I'll pass."

"Suit yourself."

Nick clicked on the tab, and upon opening found a stream of paragraphs longer than War and Peace.

"Woah. I think that most of this is for you, Judy."

"Double pass!"

"Wow. There's even a link to her blog, her Snout-Book account, even her online scrap book! And also some link to a site called Fan Fiction."

"What's that?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Just scroll to the bottom."

Nick began the tedious task of sifting through the e-mail. On the way he encountered multiple more website links, none of them about the security system, and plenty of information on the weasel herself. To Nick's bewilderment, he accidentally found a link to a site called 'Interspecies Marriages: Foxes and-'

Nick scrolled down before Judy could see.

"More boring stuff, even more boring stuff, a little bit more boring- hey! I found it!"

"Where?!"

"Right here, at the very bottom! It says 'I almost forgot, here's the link to the security net:' and then it has this thirty letter long blue link."

"Wow. That weasel types almost as fast as she can speak. We were only gone for twenty minutes."

"Maybe we should publish it as 'The Official Judy Fan Book'."

"That 'Throw a Tomato at Nick Pack' thing is about to become a reality, you know."

* * *

 **Hello my devoted readers!**

 **So, I think that this is my first authors not, because for some reason the others haven't showed up.**

 **But that means I get to say it all again! (boo from audience)**

 **Well, my name is InkleCherrySeed. And no, I didn't know that "Inkle" is a type of sewing loom. But that's off topic!**

 **I started this story a little while ago, and it's my very first one, so please bear with me.**

 **I also have a you-tube channel! DO NOT WATCH IT! IT IS TERRIBLE! For those of you who already have, I advise washing the eyes and cerebral cortex with bleach.**

 **But anyway, please comment what you think about the story! I love feedback on what I'm doing right and wrong, like spelin, gramaticals, and lack of line plot. (snickers)**

 **I also have a suggestion of what to read other than my story. I know this guy called TheAssassin_2. He is writing the story "To Stand Together or Not at All", and it's an amazing Zootopia story! I highly recommend it!**

 **Well, that's it for now!**

 **I'll see you next time on "Babbling On And On With InkleCherrySeed"**

 **Bye!**


	7. Chapter 6: First Clues

**Chapter Six:**

 **First Clues**

 **Edited By TheAssassin_2**

* * *

"We should start by eliminating certain routes of entering the city." Suggested Judy. Her eyes where bright with thoughts and ideas of how to catch the worst criminal of the century.

"Well, I don't know much about reptiles, but I know that reptiles are cold blooded so-"

"So they could only have entered at certain areas that are the right temperature! Brilliant!"

 _'Maybe she_ _ **is**_ _telepathic.'_ Thought Nick.

"I'll start pulling up some information on that, and guess what?"

"What?"

"You're sitting on the couch now!"

Judy let out a squeal and hopped up and off.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

She made a loud humph and stared at Nick, trying with all her might not to laugh too.

"Oh, come on Judy! It doesn't really have bugs in it. The whole Christmas and Easter thing was just a joke. This thing is cleaner than the inside of a bleach bottle."

"Are you sure?"

"Carrots, would I ever joke with you?"

"Yes. You would."

"Oh well, have fun not working on a case over there."

"Fine. I'll sit on the couch. But this doesn't mean I won't try to get even." Said Judy while slowly lowering herself onto the sofa.

"Sure thing Fluff."

"Are you ever going to use my real name?"

"Hey! Look at this! The website we were talking about! Let's read it!"

 _'I think',_ Judy thought, _'that Nick is still a kid in his head.'_

The two animals then began to skim through the website, trying to find the widest temperature variances that a reptile could survive. There results were wide and sketchy, but they were still narrowing things down.

"Hopefully the security sight has a temperature filter on it," said Judy, "otherwise it's going to take a lot of thermometers to get things done."

"Well halleluiah. Not only can this site be e-mailed to other people, but it also has temperature filters."

"Type in the parameters."

After hitting a few keys, a map of Zootopia sprang up onto the screen. It was covered in green, yellow, and red areas. They were unevenly laid out, like the lines on a contour map.

"What's the green mean?"

"Green means it meets the parameters entirely, yellow means just barely, and red means not at all. The only issue is this little scroll bar down here, which changes the time of day and therefore the temperature."

"Well, let's just start eliminating possible entrances."

Nick clicked on a tab, and all the ways of entering the city became highlighted with small yellow dots.

Judy stared at the screen for a little while, before finally saying, "The reptile couldn't have entered through any of the main roads, each toll booth is required to search the cars thoroughly. It couldn't have simply crossed over the city boundary, a proximity alarm would have alerted the ZPD."

"The train isn't even remotely possible, unless he was invisible. And to arrive by air would be out of the question. So that only leaves-"

"The docks! We get imports and exports from Reptalia all the time!"

"Hold up carrots. The only docks that accept those imports are the ones in the Aquatic Mammal District, and no reptile has ever gotten off one of those boats and into Zootopia."

"Those boats only come rarely, so we can put and investigation on the most recent boat that came!"

"Exactly! We just need to get into the main dock's records."

Nick started to zip through tabs and links, typing here and there, but never stopping. He went on like that for roughly three minutes until he came to a large grey screen covered in buttons and tabs, all surrounding a very long password bar.

"Aww man!"

"What is it Nick?"

"We need a 'Master Password' to get into this, and it's not connected to the security site."

"Can't we find a password on the site we were just on?"

"No, unless you happen to carry the harbor master password in your back pocket."

"Dang, I'm gonna have to go back to the ZPD. Maybe I'll snout-time you ounce I'm there." Judy hopped off the couch and walked toward the door, before saying "Would you mind helping me with the locks?"

Nick got up to go help, but the moment he was putting weight on his leg, he felt this stinging pain. In a split second, his knee buckled and he fell to the floor.

"Nick!"

He looked at his leg from his stomach-up position on the floor. When he moved it, it went as slow as Flash's did. It was swollen were Terrance's dart had hit.

"I'm fine Judy, just a little surprised." Said Nick with an unfamiliar tone of seriousness. "Would you mind passing me those crutches?"

Judy quickly retrieved them from their resting place on the wall, then carefully helped Nick up. He was lighter than she expected, so she was able to get him half standing fairly easy. Then she slipped the crutches under his arms, and helped him stand the rest of the way.

"You gonna be okay?" she said while staring at him with her violet eyes.

"I'll be fine Carrots. But, I'm gonna be stuck here a while, so…"

"I'll get you some groceries Nick. You don't need to worry."

"Actually, I was going to say to drop off some blueberries from your farm here once a week, but okay Fluff."

"That too."

"Thanks."

Nick undid the locks, and reluctantly let her out. They said their goodbyes, and then Judy went down the fire escape, and Nick receded into his shabby home.

 _'Geez. I really gotta clean this place up before she comes next time. But it's going to be all the harder thanks to these meaningless sticks.'_

Nick began the tedious job of cleaning, while down in the cruiser Judy was having other thoughts:

 _'Now Nick is going to be stuck in his apartment for the next week. I'm going to have to pair up with someone else. Maybe I'll get him a little gift to make him feel better. Yes. A whole sack of blueberries- wait, I know exactly what to get…'_

With that thought in mind, she put the black and white car into reverse, and left the down town apartments.

* * *

 _BZZZZ_

Judy sat in her office, working on her computer. She had gained permission from Chief Bogo to travel to the harbor for an investigation.

 _BZZZZ_

However, she was unable to have Nick come along as her partner. She was just about to call him and give him the news, but she was waiting for Nick to pick up.

 _BZZZZ_

"Come on Nick, pick up!" she was frustrated with how long it was taking him to answer.

Suddenly, the screen lit up, revealing a fox covered in soap bubbles.

"Hey Judy!" he said, breathing a little heavy. "I was just cleaning dishes when you called, and I dropped the phone in the sink."

"Hey, um, Nick? I'm kind of having to get paired up with another partner, so…"

"That's fine. I suspected Chief Buffalo Butt-"

"Shh! He's only a few rooms over!" She whispered under her breath.

"Oh! Sorry. Wait, if you're getting another partner, then you got the case!"

"Yeah! I gotta leave in a few minutes, so I decided to check up on you. Wouldn't want you to fall flat on your little face."

"Aww, Carrots! Does that mean you like my little face?"

Judy's ears turned a little red.

"Um, I think that's Bogo calling me. Gotta go! Bye!"

Before Nick could respond, she hit the power button, silencing its audio and terminating the screen's lights.

 _'Why did I do that? He was finally… talking like he_ _ **liked**_ _me more than usual. I'd better call him again after the case. But what if he's mad at me! What if he says that again? Oh this is so weird!'_

"Hopps!" The exclamation echoed through the building three times. It was Bogo's.

 _'I'm late!'_

Judy scrambled to get the supplies she'd gotten ready off her desk. She buckled her tranquilizer gun onto her hip, and then loaded the rest of her gear, like her notebook and canteen, into a small navy-blue daypack. It had been one of the many birthday presents that she had received from her 275 brothers and sisters. She buckled the straps and took off down the hall with bunny-like agility.

She arrived three stories down in the lobby. She was exited and also dreadful at the same time, anxious to meet her temporary partner. Instead of a rhino or a tiger awaiting her, she only saw the chief and a small white weasel standing upon the polished tiles…

"-and I told you Carrie, stop trying to sneak into Judy's office! This is the last time I'm going to warn you!"

"I wash jusht delivering mail, shir!"

"I know for a fact that Judy does not have her mail basket INSIDE HER COMPUTER!"

The buffalo was standing over her, casting a long shadow across the flinching rodent.

"Yesh shir."

"Good, now get back to your work station- wait! What's that paper?!"

"Um, nothing shir!"

Until then, Judy had been hiding behind one of the geometric stone pillars that held up a small portion of one of the staircases. Upon hearing this exclamation, she peered out from behind her hiding spot and saw the chief prying a scrap of paper from the weasel –whose name was just discovered a Carrie. She was clear off the ground, with Bogo trying to pry her from his arms.

After what seemed minutes, Bogo freed the paper from her paws and shook her from his appendages. She landed on the floor with a dry pat.

"You're fired!"

"But-"

"Silence!"

Carrie stared at the chief with horror. She trembled, starting from her knees until it reached her head. Her eyes began to water, and her breathing began to stutter. She turned and ran back to her office, sobbing the whole way until she could no longer be heard from the cold basement.

Judy cautiously emerged, unsure of the scene that had just transpired. The chief caught sight of her, and his face softened from an expression of rage to one of mild agitation.

"Um, what was that about?" Judy inquired.

"I see that the other officers haven't told you.'

"Told me what? Why was she in my office when I was already there?"

"One of our detectives caught Carrie trying to get a hold of all your information."

"Yeah, but that was her just being an over the top fan, even if it was really weird."

"She had a hold of every piece of information on you, and she wasn't just _scrap booking_. She got into your bank account, took your money. She got on public news sites, and began to tell the public that you and her are best friends. And just recently, she snuck into your fake office and stole fake information to for real black mail you."

"What!? She was going to black mail me?!"

"Don't worry, we settled out the latter problems, like your money and the media. We were concerned however that she might get mad at you and Nick for being so rude –which she was- so we took the precaution of setting up a fake office for you. She went for the bait, so know we have liable proof. She will be going to court tomorrow, receiving jail time, and getting a restraining order."

Judy stared at the chief in silent awe. She had just been robbed and blackmailed and then had the case completely solve and disintegrate right in front of her eyes. _'That weasel could have used me like a puppet!'_

"Ah, officer Nighteye. Glad to see you." Said Bogo abruptly.

A tall bobcat stepped into view from one of the hallways leading to the main corridor. She was dressed in a full blue police officer suit along with a black tie. She was roughly double Judy's height, and was covered in glossy brown fur. Her large green eyes shone brightly from behind her long eyelashes. She had tufts of fur on her ears and cheeks, as was common among bobcats. Short ivory claws protruded from the tips of her fingers.

"Sir." She said in a smooth, rolling form of speech.

"Meet your temporary partner: Hopps." The chief ushered towards Judy.

The cat nodded, and then returned her attention back to Bogo.

"She will be briefing you on what she's found, and you'll be accompanying her to the harbor. No dilly-dallying. There's a reptile loose here, we don't want any more murders."

The chief turned and left, carrying the false paper in his hands. Most likely he was going to use the Gazelle app. It was a habit of his to use it when he got stressed.

"So, where's the car?" The feline asked.

"Oh, it's just over here."

Judy walked across the tiled floor, creating small pitter-patter noises. She started to push open the iron swivel doors, when Nighteye helped her. She had noticed Judy had trouble pushing it open.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Judy entered into the bright sunlight, which was a surprise to her unadjusted eyes. The air was warm and sweet, and as she breathed, she couldn't help but receive the urge to sneeze, the cause most likely being the dust that drifted through the air from Sahara Square.

"I, I, I, Icheeeew!"

"Ha!"

"What is it?!"

"Your sneeze! Hahaha!"

"What's so funny about it?!"

"…um, nothing."

"You think it's cute, don't you?!"

"Um, no I don't."

"Yes you do!"

"Well, you gotta admit, don't you think it's just a little bit cute?"

"No. I don't."

The mountain cat looked away awkwardly, wishing she hadn't said that. The mismatched group proceeded to the cruiser, only a few dozen yards away.

After they both proceeded into the car, and after a long while of adjusting Nighteye's seat, they finally proceeded to move along the smooth-paved streets of Zootopia. It took a long time for Judy to explain why they were headed toward the harbor and what they'd be doing there. After a long and uncomfortable silence, Nighteye finally spoke:

"So, there's been rumors going around the department lately-"

"What rumors?" Judy interrupted.

"Well, that you and Nick are… dating?"

"That was _one_ time!" Judy exclaimed while nearly swerving the car off the road.

"So it's true!"

"No! That was way too awkward, and just really… weird. You know, I don't feel comfortable talking about this."

"I know but, you actually have feelings for Nick?"

"Well, maybe like as a friend but not like a _boyfriend_."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"But I could have sworn I heard you two say-"

"Okay! I like him a lot. If you tell anyone you'll be in real trouble with us! I mean, you'll be in real trouble with me!"

"Okay! No need to worry about me telling anyone."

Judy returned her full attention to the road, highly uncomfortable knowing that someone else held her and Nick's secret. They had traveled a ways from the town hall, and where nearing the low buildings on the outskirts of the city center. The conversation that had just transpired left a heavy and oppressing feeling of awkwardness in the vehicle. Both felt the need to talk, but were too shy to pick up the now old topic.

* * *

"Well, now that you know my little secret, it would be best if I knew your name." Judy said slowly.

"Jane. Sorry for being rude."

"It's fine. I'm sorry for being snappy."

"Hey, um, what's that cake for?"

"You mean the one in the back?"

"Yeah. Are you going to eat it by yourself?"

"It's actually a little present."

"What flavor is it?"

"Blueberry."

* * *

"Okay, walls are redone."

 _Check._

"Couch cushions replaced."

 _Check._

"Kitchen cleaned and reorganized."

 _Check._

"Bedroom redone."

 _Check._

"Mold from bathroom removed."

 _Nick shuddered, then checked off the square._

"Remodeling your home 101 guide finished… and check. There. All done."

Nick looked up from his clipboard and admired his home. It had undertaken a metamorphosis since Judy had left. The whole place was reorganized. No longer was the fridge in the living room, it was now part of the island in his kitchen. No longer was the couch the breading place for a family of beetles. No longer where the walls covered in old wallpaper. (The original color was blue, the green color was a mysterious caked substance. It was swiftly removed upon the discovery.)

"This place just might be ready to be inhabited."

Nick took a seat on his semi-new couch. He didn't have to worry about being cut by springs anymore. He used the remote to turn on his newly dusted TV, and began to sift through the channels. The only thing that he was missing was a bowl of blueberries, and a certain fluffy accomplice to play jokes on.

 _'At least she can come over here now without worrying about contracting uncleanly fox disorder.'_

He skimmed through more channels, trying to find something to fill his boredom, wishing he was on the case with Judy, solving a mystery while still managing to pester her.


	8. Chapter 7: The Motive

**Chapter Seven:**

 **The Motive**

* * *

"Ow, ow, ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!" Nick exclaimed, lying upon the couch, the same place he'd been for hours.

Nick was done waiting around. Nick was done watching TV, He was done playing Ninten-Doe, and he was done eating. Nick had decided to focus on something other than games, TV, and food.

So he decided to look at his somewhat major injury for the first time. He quickly discovered (and still is discovering) that it was much more painful and gruesome than he'd thought.

"OOOOOWWWWWWWW!" Nick yelped. He still had half of the bandage to take off before he could see the whole of his injury. Mrs. Ona had shaved the hair off the side of Nick's knee to get a better look at it. Now Nick's bare, moist skin was sticking to the bandage. Not like glue, but it was similar to removing a Band-Aid. A very, _very_ sticky Band-Aid.

With one final tear, the last three inches of the bandage came off, creating a moist zipper-like sound.

"Ahhh!" Nick gasped. His whole knee stung and throbbed, like a bee had stung it and then injected a gallon of jelly under his flesh.

Nick looked down at his joint. He shuddered. If it had been an injury on anyone else, he might have turned away in disgust, but he kept looking out of a childish curiosity.

His knee was shaven and bald. That itself was an unpleasant sight to most mammals, bare skin. It made Nick itch all over. The whole of the bare skin was a deep crimson red, almost violet. The area was swollen to an unbelievable level, and was now almost the size of a small baseball (a fox sized baseball, mind you). Smeared all over the bulbous lump was what looked like rancid milk.

 _'Uh! Worst pimple of my life!'_ he thought. And when a mammal gets a pimple under its fur, it's usually pretty bad.

The fluid was thin and greasy, with a scent all of its own. Nick had to finally turn his head, not entirely because it was gruesome to look at, but he couldn't stand the smell.

He'd noticed the fluid seeping through the bandage earlier, so he had called Mrs. Ona. Her reply was that it was the tranquilizer dart "juice" that was left over from the shot. It had quenched Nicks fear that his wound was infected.

Now, if it had been an elephant that Terrance had shot, it might have taken about four seconds before the elephant was unconscious. That state on the elephant would only have lasted roughly an hour at most, because the dart was _meant_ for an elephant. But if an elephant sized dose of that serum was put into a fox… it could cause heart failure, migraine, lung failure, seizure, coma, death…

Point being is that Nick could very well have died from it.

Why didn't he die? Well, it's kind of good and bad news. The good news is that is landed perfectly in the center of a joint, smack dab in the cartilage between the bones. Cartilage has this funny ability to absorb almost any medication put into it, and was able to hold the fluid back from the rest of Nick's body until he got to the med bay.

The bad news is that it landed smack dab in the center of his joint. And as you can see, it can cause some problems. Really nasty, annoying, _painful_ problems.

Looking back, Nick was stunned that he had walked out of the building on his leg, let alone climbed a fire escape up to his house.

Looking back, what _was_ the reason he'd been shot?

Immediately he remembered Terrance, and the recurring name _red_ and _muzzle_. Nick had a history with the junior ranger scouts, long after that first meeting. But at that point, Nick had hardened. Like wet cement tamped down by those scouts, he had dried and hardened. He'd just looked at them and smiled. They continued to scream at him and insult him, but he just stood there, immune to their poisons.

But then Judy hopped along. She made Nick soft again and reshaped his hard attitude. But now that he was finally soft, Terrance had gotten his goat, and had jabbed at Nick in a soft spot.

Not a good idea for Terrance.

 _'Hey, Terrance is going to court! Maybe I could sue that little-'_

Nick took a deep breath and quickly released his storm of rage.

 _'That wouldn't fix anything. Not to mention, how could I attend with this leg?'_

Nick took some cotton balls out of a small package and began to dab away the fluid on his knee. He had some fresh bandages next to him so he could re-wrap his knee when finished.

"Geez." He said. "How long until this will heal?"

He knew that he was asking because he wanted to be back on the case. Being in his apartment alone for the next few days was practically a house arrest, and he had nothing to do.

 _'Humph.'_ He thought. _'I wonder what Judy is doing right now.'_

* * *

 **Zootopia, Aquatic Mammal District**

 **International Harbor**

 **S.S. Titanica, Reptilian Freighter**

* * *

The walls were solid iron. A whole two inches of dense, rock hard, immovable iron coated in a crimson paint. The paint was old. It no longer had a metallic luster. It was a dry looking texture, similar to charcoal. In particularly worn spots, the paint was flaking, and curled up at the edges. The wall underneath was rusted, as if water had flowed beneath the paint before it had even flaked off.

At the rounded corner where the wall met the ceiling –which looked no different- was a moist spot. A _moist_ spot. The peculiar thing was that there was no leak, no crack, and no hole for a leak to allow water into that particular spot. How? The moist spots dotted every wall, each lacking an origin. There was only one spot of fluid that had an obvious origin: a particularly large spot that appeared to be produced from a rivet in the wall.

The whole hallway was created out of open cubes of iron, with two sides missing so that reptiles could walkthrough. Each cube was roughly seven feet wide, but a ceiling only _three feet_ tall. Each section was bolted and welded to the next, creating a pattern of ridges covered in bolts every few feet. The low ceiling was enough to make even Judy, who was used to burrows and other small structures, claustrophobic.

Judy snapped back into focus. She always thought it was odd how if you paid attention to detail, you'd forget yourself. How peculiar it was to have no self. And whenever you do that, you always forget things when you snap back, like if someone were walking next to you-

Judy tightened up. She'd forgot who was walking next to her, and it sure wasn't Nighteye.

In the very edge of her peripheral vision, she saw a long black line, curving and twisting beside her, silently.

Snake. Not just any snake. Captain Salazar.

Judy's instinct caused her to stop walking and stiffen into a rigid statue.

The snake turned its small head attached to its massively long neck.

"I underssstand, officer," he said in a rolling form of speech, "If you want to go back. Thisss ship can be unnerving for mammalsss."

"N-no, I'm fine. We can keep g-going." Judy said. She was trying her best to hide her fear and not bolt away the direction she had come.

"Very well."

They continued walking, much slower now. Judy was still stiff in her limbs from outright instinct.

 _'Where's Nick when you need to blame him for stuff? And why did Jane have to be so scared of snakes!?'_

And with that thought, they continued walking down the damp hallway, moldy and rusted.

What felt like hours passed, but only a minute had slipped by, until they arrived at a door as tall as the narrow hall, but only half as wide.

"Are you sssure you want to sssee this? I doubt that it'sss of ussse to your cassse."

"I have to follow any leads that I can, sir."

"Be prepared for a messs."

The massive black snake rose up, and curling around a massive wheel at the center of the door, twisted until a heavy _thud_ sounded inside of the door. Pushing with the half of himself on the floor, the door swung slowly inward into a dimly lit cavern of a room.

The first thing Judy noticed was the putrid smell of mold, gasoline, and something rotting.

The second thing she noticed was that in the center of the room was a massive engine, with moving pistons and steam rising from its vents.

The third was that two floors down, a massive tank on the engine had exploded in some sort of way, leaving a massive black scorchmark on the red metal around it. And at the center of the burn mark was a heap of what could only be guessed to be three massive –and quite frankly incinerated- reptiles.

"That'sss them. Follow me down."

The Captain snaked his way over to what looked to be a spiral slide, which he was able to slither down like a ramp.

Judy, reluctant to take the same path as the serpent, decided to trust her agility. She leapt atop the thick railing, leaped from the handhold, grasped a steel cable, and slid to the lower walkway, where she disengaged the cable and landed with a roll before standing up.

The snake, just now rounding the corner, looked at Judy with amusement. That's the same look you'd give to a pot of beef stew simmering on the stove.

The snake slithered on, and Judy followed, much more tense now.

The walkway turned a few feet ahead before a stairway led to the bottom floor of the engine room. The floor curved a little here, and had water stains on its ancient iron body. Along with those stains were huge black burn marks, and the shapeless mounds of the unlucky reptiles in its way.

"Four crocodilesss were working here. Engine repair. Oil pressure was unusually high that day. One second they were all ssstanding there working, the next they were all deccceased."

""What would they have been doing when the engine, um, malfunctioned?" Judy said.

"Not what they ssshould have been doing. They ssshould have been manning the pressure valves, behind the fuel tank."

Judy dug out her pawprint duster out of one of her various pouches. Reptiles can't be identified by their claw marks, but you can see what they touched.

"How long has it been since the valves have been, um, used?"

"They're usssed mossst every few daysss, but sssince the accident, no one hasss used them, and these crococilesss obviosssly didn't."

Judy looked over at the burst tank, like a gaping mouth. Directly beside it was a walkway leading into a dark crevice of the engine, in which a network of pipes connected like a web. Judy walked in and was met by a tall wall of valves, pipes, wheels, and any number of gauges.

Judy began to dust the levers and valves, hoping to find a single clue. The powder showed clearly on the crimson painted iron, but no prints came up on that first valve. Must have been too long since a reptile touched it. She moved onto the next valve, with the same results. Dusting the whole panel of gauges would use all of her powder, if she wasn't careful.

"Which valves were for _this_ tank?" she yelled.

She heard a raspy noise come from the exit of the crevasse, which could have either been the engine or the snake.

Judy looked at the panel again, trying to find a word that looked like the noise.

 _'What font did they write these labels in? It's like reading the veins on a leaf!'_

Judy kept looking.

 _'Clunky sound, whoosh sound, garbled sound, bubble looking sound, oh! I think this is it! Wait, there's two!'_

 **Grnethash Gnrethesh**

 _'Um, eenee meenee minie mo, pick a bunny by the tow, if he hollers let him go, and the very best one is… oh, wait, I don't want that one. This one, then!'_

Judy dusted it, and nothing came up.

 _'Oh. I guess it's the other one.'_

Judy covered her brush with powder a gain, and reached up to dust the next.

 _Poof._

Judy looked down at her feet.

 _'I just had to drop the dust. On myself.'_

Judy lifted up her foot, and was about to shake it off, but something caught her eye. Right by her foot, there were two footprints. One was hers. One had claws.

 _'Crocodile.'_

Judy turned and looked behind. In the circle that the powder left, two more clawed footprints moved away toward the burst tank.

Judy hopped on one foot over to the edge of the footprints, and shook some of the dust off of her foot.

More footprints, with a smudge down the middle, the tail.

Judy hobbled along farther, shaking some dust off her foot every now and then to see the trail. It led straight out of the area where the valves were, and into the massive black scorch mark.

 _'It must have walked here after the explosion.'_

Judy followed it a little further, then suddenly the trail disappeared into a mass of confused markings. It looked like a stampede had happed, running over the lizard. Judy kept going, until she found an edge of the former path of footprints. No crocodile prints showed on the other side.

The captain slithered up beside her, and startled her when he spoke.

"There'sss a trick to lose your pursuersss by walking down a ssstream. That way they lose the footprintsss, thinking you came up on the other ssside."

"What do you mean?"

Judy's eyes lit up.

Skirting the highway of footprints and using as little dust as possible, Judy hobbled down the length of the engine room. Nearing the end of the cavern, and with little dust left on her foot, Judy say a branch of footprints.

 _'Yes!'_

Using her thinning supply of dust on her foot, she inched along the path. She was only a few feet from the crimson wall.

She inched closer, only a few feet left. She moved a little closer. Shook some dust off. They remained in the same place, until inches of the wall.

Judy let out a frustrated humph and tapped her foot rapidly, drumming the metal floor. The paw prints stopped right there.

 _'Maybe he used a rope to climb up, or… Ugh! Where?!'_

Judy looked all around her, looking at the wall, the engine, until her eyes rested on the ground again.

There, whitened by the powder, was a singular screw.

Judy's ears flew up. She looked at the wall in front of her, and started feeling for an exit.

She pushed and hit everywhere on the flat surface, trying to find a way to open it.

 _Thud. Thud._

Only a dull, deep sound came from it. Judy was sweating from the effort.

She took a few steps back, looking for something she had missed.

With a frustrated growl, Judy burst into a headlong sprint.

 _Bam!_

Judy fell backwards holding her shoulder.

"Onccce your done dessstroying my ship, would-"

The snake was interrupted by a loud squealing sound from the wall, as a massive section of riveted iron began to fall down, and landed with a crash inches from the bunny cop.

"Aha!" Judy blurted. She turned back over to the snake, and with a face full of glee spoke:

"Sir, I think you miscounted your crew." Judy said.

* * *

Judy sat on the other side of a dimly lit room. A set of iron bars dividing it down the middle. And on the other side sat a sixteen foot monster, staring at her blankly.

"Um, let's start with how you knew him."

The lizard leaned forward slightly, and spoke in a voice closer to a growl than a language.

"Work."

"But, were you friends with him or something?"

"Not friends."

Judy sighed, a little frustrated.

"What did he usually talk about?" She inquired.

"Killing."

"Killing what, exactly?"

"Mammalia."

"He didn't happen to mention how, did he?" Judy asked sweetly.

"Said not. I join him, if I knew."

"Um, what was his motive?"

The crocodile cocked his head.

"I mean, why did he want to kill Mammalia?"

"We all do."

Judy gulped. Being in the same room with the monster unsettled her more than the snake.

"What about any unusual activities he did?"

"Collected sky rocks. Collected rocks that went boom."

"Did he take any with him when he left?"

"Did not leave."

"But we found his way out."

"Leaves for little while. Comes back for rocks and metals."

"You mean he's been coming back here the whole time?"

"Yes."

Judy took the radio of her hip and sifted through her channels.

"This is officer Judy Hopps, calling in all ZPD officers available! The crocodile is hiding in this boat! I repeat, do you copy?"

The reptile spoke as the radio static went on.

"No use."

Judy stared up at it, waiting for it to speak more.

"He has already left."

Judy bolted to the door, and tearing it open with a strength that betrayed her size, sprinted down the corridor. She had to get to the surface of the boat before the murderer in the harbor had a chance to escape.

She slid through the corridors, dodging stunned reptiles. Leaping over crates, skidding through the turns, in a mad dash. And to many more a dumbstruck reptile, flew up the stairs and kicked the door at the top open. She leaped on top of one of the box cars, the night air howling in her ears.

"This is Officer Hopps, to dispatch! Reptile is here! In the harbor! I need every available officer at my position, now!"

"Copy that Hopps, sending backup." Replied Clawhauser immediately.

Judy stood on top of the freighter, looking for any sign of police cars driving into the harbor. The ocean mist and the pitch black night didn't help, and the only light came from the skyscrapers in the distance.

Frustrated, Judy decided to start the search for herself. She clambered off the mountain of crates to the railing on the edge of the freighter.

She shone her flashlight down into the swirling waters. Only choppy ocean and sea weed could be seen in the dim light of her flashlight. Judy's eyes scanned frantically for any sign of the lizard.

 _'Where are you?!'_

Judy moved down the length of the ship, looking for any sign of movement or struggle, when something caught her eye.

A scaled tail slapped the water right below her.

"Ha!" Judy said with so much excitement that she almost flew off the railing into the ocean.

Except she did say it with so much excitement that she flew off the railing into the ocean. Down into the chilly waters, flailing only as a bunny could, until she landed with a splash into the salty waters.

* * *

 **Nick's apartment**

* * *

Nick sat lazing on his semi-new sofa. The TV was on, showing an old black and white show.

'Seniorita, I love you!' said a burley grizzly.

A small brown mouse stepped onto the screen.

'If you really love me, Juan, you would let me know what your job is!' Squeaked the rodent.

'But I can't! You wouldn't love me if I did!' roared the bear in a tender voice.

'If you won't tell me, than I won't love you ever again!' she squeaked, slamming the mouse sized door beside her.

'Seniorita, no!'

'Will Juan and Juanet overcome their obstacle?' said a cheesy announcer voice, 'Tune in next time on Too Small to Love!'

Nick hit the power button on the remote. He dabbed his eye with a tissue, before using it to blow his nose.

 _Ding-Dong._

Nick sat up swiftly, looking for his crutches.

' _Why'd I store them in my room?'_

Nick rolled off the couch and dragged himself across the wood floor.

 _Ding-Dong._

Nick clambered a little faster, pulling himself up onto his bed.

 _Ding-Dong._

"Just a minute!" Nick said, lifting himself up onto his walking utensils.

 _Ding-Ding-Ding-Ding-Ding-_

Nick practically pole vaulted to the door, nearly broke off the lock, and pulled the door open.

A bunny soaked ear to tail, wrapped in a silver space blanket looked up at him.

"I-I-I'm r-really c-cold." She manage to stammer between her tremoring.

"Come on, get in! No use freezing out on the doorstep."

The shivering rabbit stepped inside, dripping freezing salt water on the floor.

"Here, just wait on the couch, I replaced the cushions," Nick said quickly. "Um, I'll go get you some hot cocoa, um, and some clean clothes, so just hang tight!"

Nick hobbled over to his closet, and pulled open the door.

He started grabbing everything she'd need,

 _'My smallest pair of pajamas, bed sheets for her, a blanket for the couch and me, a towel,'_

Nick was so busy rummaging through the closet he didn't hear the wet pitter patter of Judy's steps beside him.

Arms full of stuff, Nick turned around and hobbled back to the couch.

"Okay, Judy, here's some-Judy? Judy?!"

Nick hobble back to the door. He opened it and screamed, "Judy!"

 _'Oh no oh no! Did she wander off?'_

Nick limped back to the closet, and sloppily dumped his arm load of material inside.

"Judy!" he screamed through an open window.

He hurried back into his room, and rummaged for his blue flashlight.

 _Squish._

Nick felt something wet under his foot.

He looked down. He was standing on Judy's wet police uniform.

He looked up at his bed. A small lump was under the covers.

 _'Is she in her underwear? In my bed? Before I changed the sheets?'_

Nick couldn't help but snicker at the thought.

 _'Silly rabbit.'_

Nick took his smallest pair of pajamas and set it on the corner of the bed.

He reached down and picked up the sopping wet uniform before hobbling out of the room. With the clothes deposited in the dirty wash and the door closed behind him, Nick laid down on his couch for the night. Meanwhile a very happy rabbit dozed off, all cozy in Nick's bed.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **Hey guys!**

 **Okay, first off, who was scared by the site being down for most of today?**

 **I for one was scared crap-less and was wondering if I would ever use the site again. I mean, this is my life now!**

 **Second, I feel really bad about not posting another chapter for two months.**

 **I hope that you didn't abandon my story thinking I was dead.**

 **And for those of you patiently waiting for fallout, your time is coming soon!**

 **Ad I can assure you, it will be epic!**

 **Well, that's it for now. Please comment, favorite and follow!**

 **Any criticism is welcome and suggestions are heeded!**

 **InkleCherrySeed Signing Out!**


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